3.3 Specify Tabbing Order

Default tabbing order.

Edit tabbing order.

Default Tabbing Order

The Dialog Editor creates the tabbing order based on the order in which you create the controls, not the  position of the controls in the dialog box.

The closer you can come to creating controls in the order in which you want them to receive the tabbing focus, the fewer tabbing-order adjustments you will have to make later on.

Edit Tabbing Order

When a control is pasted into the dialog box, the Dialog Editor places the descriptions of at the end of the dialog box template.

Therefore, you can use a simple cut-and-paste technique to adjust the tabbing order.

  1. Determine what item should be the starting point in the dialog box.

Note: Because the OK button and Cancel button display on a new dialog box by default, the OK button is the starting point and the Cancel button is the first tab.

  1. Cut and paste the controls to establish the desired tabbing order.

Note: If the controls were place in the dialog box in the correct order you can simply cut/paste the OK and Cancel buttons so they are tabbed to last.

  1. Test the tabbing order to make sure it is correct.

  2. Note: Items that users cannot interact with, e.g. group boxes, are not included in the tabbing order.

More information

3. Edit a custom dialog box.